Lenses for the Canon EOS-Elan II?

[Huram]

Alright --

My family is asking me for some Christmas ideas, and I am thinking about getting another lense or two for my Canon EOS-Elan II (I don't have the IIE).

I only have one lense right now -- the 28-80mm zoom lense that I got with it when I bought the camera in 1999.

Here are my q's:

1. What are the "gotta have lenses" for beginners like myself?

2. Let's say I took a picture with my zoom lense, having the lens set at 28mm. Let's say I took another picture with a 28mm fixed lense. Would I be able to tell a difference between the photos that I took with my Canon?

3. I am an eBay shopper -- are lenses ok to get over eBay? Just get a little nervous not seeing it, before the money is put down.

Thanks in advance for the help, direction, and insights.

Huram

 

[bmac]

What is your budget? And what focal lengths do you normally shoot at?

FWIW, I have the 28, 50, 85, & 17-40

 

[bjorke]

50mm f/1.8 - less than $100 (often less than $80) and MUCH faster than your zoom. Put the strobe away.

28mm -- yeah, you'll see a difference. the prime will be faster, lighter, less distorted.

Depends on what you want to shoot, of course -- some people wouldn't be without a 400mm tele, while personally I NEED my 12-24 monster wide.

 

[photomc]

Three lens I use on my Elan(s) - 20-35, 28-135 IS (get's most use) and 100-300. For price performance - 50 1.8 can not be beat.

 

[127]

I don't use the canon's much but my other half does, so I've shopped for a few lenses - on ebay and others locations, as xmas presents and such.

I'd definatly endorse trying the 50mm f/1.8 - it's a gift. I paid about 60 pounds for it. It's pretty hard to justify the "pro" f/1.4 at about 7 times the price!

You basically need to decide if you need to go long or short.

I just picked up the (I think discontinued) 22-55mm. It's an nice range - ultrawide to normal. It was designed for the APS SLR's - smaller negative, hence needing a short zoom. I've heard it's a bit soft around the edges (not needed for APS), but again it was priced to go, and should be a lot of fun. The closest competition was the 24mm at more than twice the price.

I've bought a few of the lenses through ebay without problems. However watch out for prices, and dodgey imports:

The 50mm lens repeatedly sells for MORE than you can buy it retail (www.7dayshop.co.uk is good if you're UK based). Check the retail price at a few places before bidding. You may not be getting a bargin.

Also check where the seller actually is. I've no problem buying from abroad. I've bought quite a bit of stuff from good sellers in North America, and the Far East. I'm not even particularly worried about "grey goods". However the big gotcha is import duty - the 100 pound bargain looks less good when you add 20 pounds tax, and 10 pounds handling charge. Virtually all the ebay buy-it-now's on lenses are international sellers.

Ian

 

[eagleowl]

It depends on what you intend to be your "next step".
For landscapes,my favourite is my Sigma 17-35mm(expensive,but worth it).
For wildlife,it's my Sigma 175-500mm(even more expensive,but nice to use).
For closeup/macro photos it's the Cosina 100mm macro(cheap,but I like it)
But the lens I use most often is my 70-300mm.
Canon do an Image Stabilised version(which cut the amount of film I waste because of camera shake by over 90%!),but even the "conventional" version is useful-especially with a 2x convertor.
Also,a good tripod is ALWAYS worth having!